We are excited to announce a few upcoming changes to the
Google Play Private Channel, a feature which allows G Suite admins to distribute private (custom) Android apps to their users via the Play Store app.
With this launch, private apps will be more discoverable and easier for your users to access. Customers using private apps will also be able to whitelist these apps for work profiles and company-owned devices in a more streamlined manner by using an Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) provider.
Making private apps more discoverable and easier for your users to accessPreviously, private apps were located in your company’s Private Channel: in the Play Store Android app under the tab [
your organization’s name], which is the last category within the Play app.
In order to make these apps easier for users to access, private apps will be relocated to the “Work Apps” tab within the Play app, the third category, which will also contain any managed applications if your organization is using an EMM provider, such as
Google Mobile Management.
Making “Work Apps” richer with private apps and managed Google Play (formerly Play for Work) for new customersOur vision for “Work Apps” within Google Play is for it to become the single destination for corporate users to find all of the applications they need. G Suite admins will be able to offer a curated set of both public and private applications specific to your enterprise for your employees.
You will also no longer need to manage different access controls for your employees; controls for both private and public applications within managed Play will be consolidated, simplifying the whitelisting process for mobile applications.
As part of this simplified whitelisting process, customers who currently are not using Google Play Private Channel, and want to deploy private apps for the first time, must enroll with an EMM, such as Google Mobile Management, and
must enroll with managed Google Play. This will allow you to make private applications available in work profiles and on company-owned devices, as you currently can do with managed public applications. Customers currently using Google Play Private Channel are not required to use an EMM and can continue to use private applications as they do today.
We are expecting to launch these changes to Google Play Private Channel on January 31, 2017.
Launch Details Release track:Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release on January 31, 2017
Rollout pace:Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)
Editions:Available to all G Suite editions
Impact:Admins and end users
Action:Admin action suggested
More InformationGoogle Play Private Channel applicationsLaunch release calendarLaunch detail categoriesGet these product update alerts by emailSubscribe to the RSS feed of these updates
